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A lot of public schools have publicly available salary data. At my old school (Public T2), there was a new tenure track prof who was a HYS grad, in the middle of getting his PhD, making just about $100k on the nose.

For starting tenure track, I've heard as low as about $75k (T3 state school in the middle of nowhere). The private T2 up the street in a medium-sized city pays mid-$90s. (LRW is around $70k is memory serves.) My understanding is that the top tier schools pay up to $150k or so.

By the way, even the lowest-paid law professor at a school likely is making more than the highest paid arts, humanities and social sciences professors. (Hard science and engineering get more, but not as much as a law prof. Business profs are comparable.)

I've been checking it out and it's quite interesting. How is it, though, that so many law professors have multiple jobs? I've heard of professors with dual appointments (full in law and full in humanities), full professorship and job with ABA, full professorship and full time litigation career, etc. How many classes do law professors teach, each semester?

Anonymous User wrote:Thanks for the info about public schools releasing the salaries.

I've been checking it out and it's quite interesting. How is it, though, that so many law professors have multiple jobs? I've heard of professors with dual appointments (full in law and full in humanities), full professorship and job with ABA, full professorship and full time litigation career, etc. How many classes do law professors teach, each semester?

Generally two. Maybe with an after-hours seminar at their house. A few famous ones only teach two every other semester. The real hours aren't in the classroom. They are researching/publishing (continually required for tenure), supervising student Notes, office hours, etc.

Whatever will get you a CoA clerkship. That's pretty much required. A ridiculous percentage have law review as well. I think I read somewhere like 85%+, even at T4s.

This isn't quite right. On the entry level market last year, "only" about 65% of new faculty hires had clerkships, and of course a good chunk of those were district court, bankrupcty or state court clerkships. Probably only about half of new professors had a COA clerkship. (Prawfsblawg did a fun hiring thread on the new hire statistics.) And LR is relatively unimportant, though a published student comment or note would be a plus.

The bottom line is that you need to publish to be a viable entry level candidate. Mostly in top 100 law reviews. How many articles will depend on your other credentials. A "typical" law professor candidate -- HSY (and Chicago, which places about as well as Harvard and Stanford per capita, though they all trail Yale by a good bit), magna-level grades, COA clerkship, 2-4 years at a V10 firm or DOJ -- will need one. People who deviate from that will need more, though adjustments are made for special factors like a PhD (+), VAP (+), teaching interest in underserved subject like commercial law (+), and more than 5 years of practice experience (-).

(For example, my resume looks like this: HSYC, district court clerkship, good-but-not-great grades, 5+ years practice experience split between a V20 firm and government, and interest in a neutral field [not property or commercial law, but not con law either]. I was told that I'd need two articles for a fighting chance, and three to be comfortable.)

Anonymous User wrote: People who deviate from that will need more, though adjustments are made for special factors like a PhD (+), VAP (+), teaching interest in underserved subject like commercial law (+), and more than 5 years of practice experience (-).

Regarding practice experience as a negative: there is a caveat for federal government work. I think DOJ work tends to help one's resume as opposed to hurt it. At least that's my limited experience.

Yeah, I'm starting law school next year but my main focus is legal academia. I am hoping to boast the following:

HYS - at least medianLaw Review or secondary law reviewPhD3 T100 articlesA book off of my dissertation that catches some attentionEither a teaching fellowship like the one at Chicago or a CoA

I figure this is something that I have to really be diligent about, as legal academia is not really something you fall into. You need to make a concerted effort to take the necessary steps in order to have a good chance.

Yeah, I'm starting law school next year but my main focus is legal academia. I am hoping to boast the following:

HYS - at least medianLaw Review or secondary law reviewPhD3 T100 articlesA book off of my dissertation that catches some attentionEither a teaching fellowship like the one at Chicago or a CoA

I figure this is something that I have to really be diligent about, as legal academia is not really something you fall into. You need to make a concerted effort to take the necessary steps in order to have a good chance.